


and i'm waiting (for them to go)

by orphan_account



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: A Lot of Gay, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gabriel - Freeform, M/M, a lot of friendship, first fic, i'm so sorry for the gabriel, sorry - Freeform, the good hair crew, very co-related to the show
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-23
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 01:57:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12807105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cyrus Goodman's 11th birthday is thrown for a loop when he finds out that he's a wizard and that magic is real. Sure, he had been read the tales of witches on a broomstick and frequently binge-watched Merlin, but magic being an actual thing? No way. But here he was, sitting on a magical train, heading to a magical school, wearing magical robes and carrying his old, not magical, cat.Andi Mack's 11th birthday is flipped when her only occasionally visiting "sister", Bex, returns, and with a secret. Now, she finds out that Bex is actually her mother. Soon, everything she knows about her home life and subsequently herself is thrown out of balance.Buffy Driscoll's 11th birthday is compromised when a report is released stating that her mother, a respected auror, has gone missing on a mission of hers in Albania. Returning to school feels like suicide. All she really wants is her mom to be safe and for her family to be fine.They meet at a train station.





	1. but i hear sounds in my mind (brand new sounds in my mind)

**Author's Note:**

> Title credit to Little Angels - Weird Inside.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one was really bad okay it'll get better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was really bad okay it'll get better

Cyrus Goodman is confused. In fact, Cyrus Goodman is more than confused. Cyrus Goodman is completely, utterly, lost. Scanning his surroundings, he immediately feels self-conscious. Here he is, in the middle of nowhere, holding a ticket that says Platform 9 3/4, carrying an old cat, some books, and robes (?). Cyrus's becoming increasingly confident that this entire thing is a prank. He hears carts shifting, people commuting, trains taking off, he sees old men in white dress shirts, black trains, and brick walls, but he does not see a platform 9 3/4. Glancing around, he looks for any sign that he isn't alone in his search for the mysterious platform. What he does see is a family carrying owls and wands, and books by Gilderoy Lockhart and - wait. Is this indication that they were also going to Hogwarts? Shifting towards them nervously, he taps the mother on the shoulder.

"Um, hello, do you know where platform 9 3/4 is?" he mumbles nervously. This is his best chance. If the mother doesn't know, Cyrus decides, he would again revert to almost having a panic attack. The woman turns to face him and smiles.

"Yes, it's just through this brick wall. Muggle-born, I assume?"

Cyrus is now completely befuddled. _Muggle-born? Through the brick wall? What the hell is she talking about?_

"Oh, this is no problem at all! My son Jonah Beck was just about to go through, we can show you the way," she continues, oblivious to Cyrus' confusion. Cyrus repositions himself to watch what's happening. The boy behind his mother looks at him and simply smiles, dimples highlighting his face and hazel eyes lighting up.  _Whoah,_ Cyrus thinks. He continues staring as Jonah Beck runs through the brick wall. He blinks. _Where did Jonah (Beck) go?_

The mother's laugh is high-pitched and not quite unlike a chihuahua's shrill bark. "Just go through, you'll be fine!"

Cyrus looks at the brick wall dubiously. _Well, either she's telling the truth and I'll be okay, or I'm just going to run into the wall and break my neck._ In a moment of recklessness, Cyrus decides to take her advice and run straight into the bricks. 

Expecting to feel pain, he squints up his eyes and keeps running and running and running and -  _whump!_

"Hey, watch where you're going!" Cyrus opens his eyes. Where is he? Now he's in a completely new environment. There are fewer adults, a surprising amount of birds, and almost everyone was wearing a cloak. Unfortunately, as he shifts his head, he finds himself looking at a new, angry face. Curls, sharp brown eyes, and a big black coat.

"O-oh, sorry," Cyrus stammers, "I wasn't looking. Wh-where are we?"

Her eyes softens as she realizes Cyrus' disorientation (oh so similar to experiences in her own past), she replies, "Well, we're at platform 9 3/4, of course. The Hogwarts Express?"

Cyrus internally high-fives himself.  _I made it, I made it, yeah, I made it!_

The girl speaks again, shaking Cyrus out of his reverie.

"What are you waiting for? Get into the train, it's about to take off. I'm Buffy Driscoll, by the way. Who are you?"

"I'm Cyrus. Cyrus Goodman." Buffy nods again in affirmation.

"Do you want to sit with me? I'll be with another girl. Her name is Andi Mack." What type of good luck is this? Making a sort-of friend, getting onto the correct station, and not yet breaking any bones.

"Of course!" he chirps, slightly over-enthusiastically. Buffy gives him a look and then grabs his arm to start walking to the only train at this station.

Taking a chance to absorb his surroundings, Cyrus notices that he's in a completely new... room? There's no connection to any other stations except for that one brick wall, now enlarged, that he had walked into in the first place. The entire place has this aura of home and comfort and there were smiles all around. Most of the aforementioned birds are actually owls, but he also spots some other cats and... toads? Everyone has stacks of books, and people are herding their potions cauldrons into a little flap on the side of the Hogwarts Express. He and Buffy also stuffed theirs there. While some of them have name stickers on them (like his own), others had their names carved into it or magically cast onto them (like Buffy's). For some reason, he feels an irrational twinge of jealousy. He decides to then shove it down with the rest of his repressed thoughts. Before he knows it, he's in a booth on the side of the Hogwarts Express and everyone's waving goodbye to their parents. This time, he feels a shocking (and rational) blow of jealousy.  _Why can't my parents be here too?_

 

"Hey. Hey," Buffy says, snapping her fingers in front of Cyrus' face, "you there?"

Cyrus gives a non-convincing chuckle and replies, "Yep, just spaced out is all."

"Good," Buffy declares, "because Andi just arrived."

Cyrus looks up to see an Asian girl with short, clipped hair, and a decorated barrette.

"Hi, I'm Andi Mack," she greets kindly.

"Yeah, I know, I'm Cyrus," Cyrus responds awkwardly. They both stand there until Andi sits down on the seat next to Buffy. Suddenly, she looks out the window of their booth.

" _Buffy, Buffy, that's Jonah Beck!"_ she whispers. Sure enough, the boy from earlier is in the aisle in the middle.

Buffy smirks, "You've only mentioned that 100 times. We all know who Jonah Beck is."

As if on cue, he turns around and opens the door of the carriage.

"Can I sit here?" he asks, his dimples flashing in full force.

"Yes," Cyrus and Andi affirm at the same time.

"Cyrus, you know him too?"

Jonah's gaze flickers back to Cyrus.

"Oh, yeah, you're that kid from earlier! Nice to officially meet you, Cyrus..."

"Goodman. Cyrus Goodman. Hi, Jonah Beck!" Cyrus internally face-palms.  _Be more chill,_ he consoles himself.

"You... can just call me Jonah, you know?" Jonah replies.

He looks over to Buffy and mouths,  _Jonah Beck said we can call him Jonah!_

Buffy just tilts her head.

"Anyways... I think I'll just sit here," Jonah says awkwardly, gesturing to the seat next to Cyrus.

_Oh, great job, you made him feel uncomfortable!_

"Okay," all other three in the booth answer at once.

Oh, boy, was Cyrus in for a ride, and in more ways than one.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this one was really bad okay it'll get better


	2. oh, but when you're gone (when you're gone)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now it's Andi's turn. Watch as we go over what happened with Bex (it's her 11th birthday now, we're just going to have to deal with it, okay?).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from Be the One - Dua Lipa.
> 
> Just wanted to say that the dialogue in the beginning is from the actual show.

_"Andi... You think you're not in here? You are."_

_A pause._

_"... Is that you?"_

_"Yeah. And that's you... Andi, I'm not your sister. I'm your mother."_

_Everything was silent for a moment. Andi was sure that at any time, Bex would reveal that this was a lie, that Celia, her_ real  _mom would jump out with a video camera and say, "Happy 11th Birthday," except that wasn't very funny, but it would be alright because_ Bex isn't her mother _and_ everything would be okay.

 _Realizing that this wasn't a_ _prank, she burst._

 _"You're my_ what?"

" _Your mother, I'm your mother," Bex offered timidly._

What? No.  _"Mom! Mom!"_

_"No, please, she's gonna be so mad!"_

_"She says she's my mother."_

_"Ham!"_

_"So this is all_ true _?"_ _The air around her seemed to warp. There was no way, this couldn't be happening. Bex must be under the Imperius Curse or something, there was just - it's impossible! Around Andi, the conversation - well, more like an argument now - continued._

 _"You had_ no right!"

" _It just slipped out!"_

_"Now what's going on here?"_

_"She knows!"_

_For the first time in seconds (which was relatively long, considering how fast things were moving), Andi spoke: "My_ brain  _feels like it's_ melting!"

_Ham sighed. "How does she know?"_

_"I told her?"_

_Again, "You had no right!"_

_Wait, wait, wait._

_"_ You _don't get to be upset!_ _You_ don't _get to be upset! Nobody here is allowed to be upset but me! Because you all have been_  lying _to me for my_ whole life!"

 _Andi spun around, making eye contact with everyone in the room. The_  world _was dead silent. Not even the boisterous cicadas had anything to say._

_"I... can't be here right now."_

"Andi... Andi?"

"Hmm?" She sees concern, worry, and polite discomfort from Buffy, Jonah, and Cyrus, respectively. Cyrus' cat even meows in distress.

"I asked, are you okay? You kinda spaced out there for a second."

"Oh, oh, yeah, I'm fine," she assures un-assuringly.

Everyone is clearly not convinced, but they drop it. Buffy decides to change the subject.  _Thank God for Buffy._

"What house do you want to be in?" Buffy asks, the glint in her eye returning at full force.

"Oh, Hufflepuff definitely," Jonah replies, "I know that everyone talks about Gryffindor, but I think I would fit way better in Hufflepuff."

"Yeah, me too! It seems so inviting," Cyrus responds (maybe a little too quickly).

 _"_ Ravenclaw or Gryffindor," Andi answers honestly, "I think I would be best in one of those houses. Bex was in Gryffindor, herself."

Freezing when she realizes her mistake, she tries to correct it, but to no avail.

"How is she, by the way?"

_Crap._

"She's, she's, uh, she's fine, you know! She... she returned, actually, but I'm sure it's not permanent."

Jonah and Cyrus each brush off her nervousness as simply being shy, but Buffy isn't so easily convinced. Andi sees her open her mouth, probably to ask, so she intervenes.

"Buffy! What house do  _you_ want to be in?"

And just like that, she has Buffy distracted.

"Gryffindor, for sure! I think everyone collectively dreams about being in Gryffindor, anyways. It's so... powerful. Harry Potter's house and all that?"

Everyone in the cabin nods respectively. Andi lets herself exhale again, but she's sure this won't be the last she'll hear of Bex.

There's a moment of silence. Everyone's at a loss of words, and an awkward feeling passes through all four in the carriage.

_"The Hogwarts Express will arrive at Hogwarts in 5 minutes. Please be changed and ready."_

"I should probably go change," Andi stammers, backing away.

Murmurs of  _yeah, me too,_ ripple through.

She practically runs away to the bathroom.

Fitting the perfectly tailored dress cloak onto her body, she marvels at the way it spins and seemed to not cling to her, but rather follow her around. (She still remembered one of Bex's visits a few years ago - she had spun the magic perfectly into the dress - this way, she had promised, it would bring about a certain aura of confidence. Not that she was thinking of Bex.)

"Hey, Buffy, Cyrus," she greets.

"Hey, Andi. Can you believe that we're about to enter Hogwarts?"

"No, I can't. I feel like I've been waiting for this moment forever."

 

"Andi!"

Turning around, she spots Jonah with his black cloak hung loosely around his shoulders, his dimples flashing and eyes warm. Her cheeks color slightly; after all, he is her longtime crush. (7 years. 7.)

"Hi, Jonah! Are you excited? I mean, of course, you're excited, it's the first day of school! I mean, it's technically not the first day of school today, it's just the sorting day, and, I mean, it's just a really nice day," Andi rambles nervously.  _Get it together,_ she says to herself,  _what happened to the mostly-chill Andi from earlier?_

Jonah smiles, confusion evident on his face, and answers, "I sure am looking forward to it! But you might want to go now, it's time to head in."

"Oh."

Spinning back around to look at Buffy, she's, of course, met with a teasing smirk.

"You like him."

"No, I don't." Buffy raises her eyebrow as if to challenge her.

"Okay, fine, maybe I do, but can you blame me? Have you seen his smile? And his eyes, God. Why is it so hard to stop liking someone?"

"Those  _dimples._ His perfectly swept hair," Cyrus finishes, a dreamy look in his eyes.

Andi and Buffy share a look. Cyrus opens his mouth to say something -

 

"Firs' years over here," Hagrid bellows, his graying beard twitching.

"C'mon." Buffy slings an arm around both Andi and Cyrus, pulling them along into the looming castle.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there you have it! Buffy is next. This is moving very slowly and I don't know why. Sorry if the time seems a little chunky, I don't know what's happening.


	3. hands of time will wring my neck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Buffy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is from My Time - bo en.
> 
> Some of the dialogue is from the actual show.

_Confidential report. Auror. Gone missing. Ms. Driscoll. Mother of two._

The words pound in Buffy's head, drowning out most other sounds. They don't know. Andi still doesn't know. It's been months.

She keeps smiling through it though, keeps smiling through the headache because she knows that everyone needs her to be the bubbly, energetic one. Not like her mom was missing somewhere and possibly even dead.

 _She said she'd write. She said if she didn't write in 72 hours, then we should just assume that she's dead._ Buffy doesn't want to. Buffy can't.

If nothing more, Hogwarts sure does provide a distraction from this - whatever this is. She's dreamed for months, years, of entering this school, and there she is, with one old friend and one (maybe) new friend. She will get into Gryffindor. She will make her mother proud.

Buffy drifts through the sorting hat's song, only casually making conversation with Andi through muscle memory (is muscle memory through talking a thing?). She blinks, and -

"Everyone! Sit down, sit down. The sorting shall now commence."

The first one is a girl named Catherine Acadia. She's placed into Hufflepuff. The next one is a boy named Ethan Alexander. He's a Ravenclaw. It all zooms by until -

"Beck, Jonah!"

Jonah walks up, flustered. The hat almost covers his eyes. It stays there for about 10 seconds, then the hat yells, very confidently, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

The table of black and yellow cheer, high-fiving him and patting him on his back.

 _I wouldn't mind being there, I just can't imagine myself there._ Buffy spaces out again, losing interest in the scene around her until -

"Driscoll, Buffy!"

She walks up, head high, making sure she doesn't stumble.

The hat sits on her head.

**Hmm, that's interesting.**

_What? What's interesting?_

**You have so much potential in all of the houses. The bravery to be in Gryffindor, the loyalty to be in Hufflepuff, the smarts to be in Ravenclaw. The cunning, the ambition, the drive to be in Slytherin.**

_No. Don't put me there._

**There is so much potential in Slytherin. You could be great, you know. Your mother would be proud.**

As if feeling her deflate, the sorting hat replies again.

**Now, now, Buffy. You will make great friends in Slytherin. You can find your home there. I trust you.**

The sorting hat has been on Buffy for so long, it's beginning to gain the interest of others. Not long enough to be a hatstall, but surely not regular, either.

**All you need to do is say the word.**

_... Okay._

"SLYTHERIN!"

The table of green and silver raise their hands up. She feels herself being embraced, but she glances longingly at the red and yellows. _Why did I have to be placed here?_

Before she knows it, it's Goodman, Cyrus' turn. He trips on the way up, eliciting chuckles from a few. The hat barely touches Cyrus' hair before declaring loudly, "HUFFLEPUFF!"

Finally, it's Mack, Andi.

The hat's on her head of an alarming amount of time. 1 minute passes. 2 minutes. 3, 4, 5, minutes. There are murmurs of confusion. The first hatstall. Finally, at 8 minutes, the hat answers, "GRYFFINDOR!"

She's welcomed quickly, sitting next to another girl, conversing easily with the others around her.

Across the Hufflepuff table, Cyrus is laughing with Jonah and another, older, girl with straight, brown hair.

At the Ravenclaw table, a blonde with piercing blue eyes debates/argues with another girl.

Buffy sighs as she watches everyone around her. Headmaster Metcalf announces the start of the feast.

The food _is_ good, though. She hasn't tasted anything as delicious for a while. Her dad works at a magic restaurant, but he had started to take longer and longer shifts until he wouldn't even be home to cook for  _her._

Before she knows it, it's time to go. A tall Slytherin in too-small robes waves them over, the golden badge shining on his chest. Buffy watches the line progress in front of her slowly. The prefect has taken it upon himself to whisper something in every first-year's ears, leaving them excited and jumpy.

_"There's a party every first day at Hogwarts. Room of Requirement. All houses will be there. Don't get caught."_

She grins, excited. Something to look forward to. Buffy's heard that Hogwarts parties are legendary, everything infused with magic.

When she gets there, it's already dark and sweaty. There are teens grinding, first-years looking at them with something akin to disgust. She heads over to the food immediately. She picks up a large orange ball.  _Cheese puffs._

A Slytherin boy with a quiff walks over to her, smiling.

"Do I know you?"

Buffy almost snorts. "I think you would know if you knew me."

"What've you've done that's so great that I would know you?"

"What  _haven't_ I done?"

The other boy's face squints up.

"I'm gonna say - you haven't eaten a live frog."

"Have  _you?"_

"Yes," he responds defensively.

"Why would you eat a  _live frog?"_

 _"_ He mouthed off!"

"You - never ate a frog."

"Of course not. You're just making this conversation very difficult."

 _"I'm_ just here for the _cheese puffs!"_

"But you're staying for the witty banter."

"When does that start?"

"In... a minute over there with someone else?"

She scoffs and sticks her hand out.

"Buffy."

"Marty."

The boy smiles again and walks off.

"Catch you later."

_That was... interesting._

Andi strolls over to her.

"Guess what? I found out that Jonah has a  _girlfriend._ And she's a third year! No way can I compete with that!"

"He  _definitely_ likes you. Have you seen the way he looks at you?" Buffy consoles, trying to calm down Andi's frantic form.

"What? What way does he look at me?"

"I don't know, he looks at you very... poetically?"

Andi groans.

Cyrus takes this moment to amble over.

"Hey, what's up, guys? Uh, Andi?"

"Jonah has a girlfriend," Andi and Buffy say at the same time, with worry and exasperation, respectively.

"Oh, okay," Cyrus responds.

If Buffy didn't know better, she would have thought that Cyrus was... disappointed. Sad?  _Jealous?_

Behind Andi's back, she sees the blonde from before slow-dancing with Jonah.

"Just a question, Andi, what's Jonah's girlfriend's name? How does she look?"

"Her name's Amber. Blonde hair, blue eyes, Ravenclaw?"

"Look behind you."

She can see Andi's and Cyrus' mouths dropping open.

"That's her?" Cyrus whispers.

"I'm going," Buffy decides, walking back out the Room of Requirements door.

"Yeah, me too," Andi and Cyrus say.

They walk together in silence until Cyrus has to split.

"See you guys. Good night."

Then, it's Andi's turn. Heading up the stairs, she announces, "Good night, Buffy."

She continues walking until she sees the telltale sign of the Slytherin dungeons - a chute in the floor.

Buffy knocks on it and whispers, "Amortentia."

It slides open. Buffy steps down the stairs and into the blue-green reflections of the glass and the giant squid, allowing her to see the lake around her.

She flops into the comfy embrace of her bed, not even bothering to unpack.

_Sleep._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There it is! I basically impulse-made this entire thing, so I'm not sure about how often I'll be updating.


	4. well, that's just a little scary, cause i don't know them, but they all know me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chapter title credit: thankful - Meltycanon
> 
> Quidditch, Howlers, and banter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a rough outline of where I want to go with this story. It won't be very related to the actual show, but there will be borrowed plot elements. I've decided to keep going with this.

Cyrus wakes up with fur in his mouth.

"Augh!" He can see beady, golden eyes in front of him. Cyrus loves his cat, but Cyrus doesn't love his cat.

Rubbing his eyes, he sits up. It's still dark outside. Jonah's sleeping form lies on the bed next to him, still snoring softly. Gus has his face stuffed into the pillow, his extra strength magic earbuds in ("With a built-in alarm clock." " _With a built-in alarm clock?")._ He can smell the house-elves cooking next door. The clock reads 6:03 am.

Shifting over, he steps down, and his foot meets his cat (the second unwelcome interaction of the day).

The bundle of fur lets out a screech that can only be described as a velociraptor dying as 1,000 people scratch their fingernails down chalkboards in the distance.

"Mmm..."

Jonah stirs, waking up and blinking blearily. Gus, somehow, has only turned over and is still not awake.

"Cyrus? Wha time is ih?" he mumbles, raspiness infecting his voice. His bed head droops over his eyes, which are squinted adorably with his nose scrunched up.

"It's 6:09, Jonah. Go back to sleep," Cyrus says, turning Jonah back over. Within seconds, Jonah's out again.

Sighing softly, Cyrus notices that there are new robes waiting for him at the end of his bed. Deciding not to think about it for a while, he slumps back into his bed.

\------------

Cyrus has four classes with Buffy, two with Andi, three with Jonah, and one with a guy named Marty.

(Buffy had mentioned him a bit, and he decided to check if he shared any classes with him.)

He arrives at the Great Hall at 07:00. Cyrus has on his (magically fitted) Hufflepuff cloak and searches the crowd for anyone he knows - whether it be Buffy, Andi, or Jonah. He sees Buffy and Andi clustered together, Jonah across from them.

"Hey," Cyrus greets.

"Hey, Cy-Guy," Jonah says back. He reaches over for what appears to be a regular high-five but turns out to be a horizontal high-five. Confused, Cyrus attempts to follow him, but now Jonah's reaching in for an actual high-five, but no, he's curling his fist, and now he's trying to give him a _vertical_ fist bump and -

Buffy looks up at them with amusement in her eyes.

Cyrus blushes and sits back down with Jonah across from him. It's silent for a few minutes again. This time, it's Andi who breaks the ice.

"So, is anyone trying out for Quidditch today?"

"Oh, for sure," Jonah replies, "Gus is also going to try out." His brow furrows. "Although - Amber doesn't think it's a good idea. But what about you, Andi?"

Cyrus sees Andi flinch when she hears the name Amber, but decides to just answer his question.

"I'll try."

"I'm definitely trying out," Buffy states proudly, "and so is Marty."

"This has been driving me insane. Who's Marty?"

"He's just this guy I met at the party yesterday," Buffy dismisses casually. Maybe even a little too casually. Cyrus files this information into the little box in the back of his mind, reminding himself to ask about it later.

_Heh. Marty from the Party._

"What classes do you have?"

This conversation carries on smoothly, and Cyrus can't help but think that, maybe, this might be a good year. He stops himself from hoping, though. All he knows is whenever he takes a chance, nothing ever turns out right.

All of a sudden, he hears screeches and sees about, maybe roughly, a  _million_ owls (Cyrus denies any exaggeration).

A red package lands in front of Andi.

"Oh no."

"What's that?' Cyrus asks, looking from Buffy's pale face to Jonah's to Andi's and back to Buffy's again.

"It's a Howler," Andi answers, not looking at Cyrus, dropping a few gold coins into the owl's outstretched claw.

"Well, what does it do?"

"It yells at you."

"Then don't open it," Cyrus reasons.

"Have to. It'll explode."

Cyrus is bewildered, but not for long. Andi opens the envelope and -

 _"ANDI MACK. WHAT IS THIS I HEAR ABOUT A PARTY YOU WENT TO LAST NIGHT? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? THIS IS SOMETHING REBECCA WOULD DO, NOT YOU! I EXPECTED BETTER BEHAVIOR FROM_ YOU _. STOP THIS IMMEDIATELY. YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER. YOU CANNOT EXPECT ME TO TOLERATE THIS -"_

It keeps droning on for what seems like hours until it stops.There's silence.

"How did she know?"

\------------

It's time for class to start. He grabs Buffy's and Jonah's arms and starts walking towards their first class (Hufflepuff and Slytherin, Charms).

_Charms, charms. Where is charms?_

All of a sudden, the staircase he's traveling on starts moving. It lurches over.

"What's happening?" Cyrus yells, his voice tainted with fear.

However, Buffy looks completely nonplussed.

"Don't worry, we'll just have to find another route to Charms. It's not like we're going to die."

Standing next to Buffy is Jonah, slightly worried.

"Cyrus, are you okay? You look a bit... sick."

If you asked him in the future, he would honestly say that he doesn't remember this part.

He remembers the wave of nausea that rides over him.

He remembers falling over.

He especially remembers Jonah's hand on his back, steadying him.

What he doesn't remember is how he gets to the hospital wing.

He fades out.

_"It's my fault, I knew this was the route to the moving staircase..." Buffy's voice._

_"No, it's not. It's okay, Buffy. You can go to class now." The nurse._

_Then, a whisper in his ear: "Get better, Cyrus." Jonah._

_His heart speeds up a little._

_Cyrus falls asleep._

_\------------_

Within a week, Cyrus's back in class. No one mentions what happened, although he can see Jonah and Buffy glance at him guiltily sometimes. (Buffy makes it up to him by buying him cupcakes. Jonah makes it up to him by just _being there.)_ Sometimes he practices Charms with his friends in the golden courtyard. It usually starts with all three (Jonah hangs out with _Amber, ugh_ ) of them, bright-eyed and ready to study. What usually happens is, within 4 minutes, Cyrus and Buffy end up goofing off while Andi tries to maintain the studious environment. It never works. The study session usually ends with Andi, having completed everything, instructing Cyrus on his movements, while Buffy sits in the corner, going over the technical terms for every single spell.

It's - perfect. Everyone is at peace with another.

"Guys, guys. We should have a group name."

Buffy looks up and smirks. Andi quirks her brow.

"I was thinking - The Good Hair Crew."

Buffy snorts - audibly, actually, snorts.

"Please, only _I_ have good hair."

He pouts. "This is why you were placed in Slytherin."

Buffy's face darkens for a second, but then she just punches Cyrus lightly in the shoulder.

"We should study," Andi tries, but is quickly shut down.

"But this is _important_ ," Cyrus pleads.

Huffing, Andi finally utters an, "okay."

"Yay! So, all in favor of the Good Hair Crew?"

"It's not like we have any other choice," Buffy reasons.

"We're the Good Hair Crew, then! I should really make pins."

"Don't."

Cyrus chuckled in defeat. Everything was going fine.

\------------

Until it wasn't. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, tell me what you think of the pacing. If you want me to speed it up or slow it down or stop the time skips, I'd be happy to do so! Thanks for everyone who left kudos (like 9 people lmao), they make my day.


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